From Brittany to the Basque Country, eels are exploited in various environments: estuaries, coastal bays, coastal basins, lakes, rivers and streams.
It is still a very important activity for the economy of small-scale maritime and continental fisheries. In 2000, the PECOSUDE programme coordinated by IFREMER showed that eel fishing was one of the most important fisheries resources in the Bay of Biscay. Since then, the Eel Regulation 1100/2007 and the ban on exporting eels outside the European Union have had a major impact on the economy of this activity, which still remains a major activity for many small fleets on the Atlantic coast.
In Brittany, 74 fishermen catch glass eels and 73 yellow eels. Their boats are registered in different maritime districts: Saint-Malo, Saint-Brieuc, Brest, Camaret, Douarnenez, Le Guilvinec, Lorient, Auray, Vannes and Saint-Nazaire.
In the Pays de Loire, in addition to fishermen, professional freshwater fishermen also exploit this species. 148 marine fishermen whose boats are registered in the ports of Noirmoutier, Les Sables d’Olonne, Saint-Nazaire and Nantes look for glass-eel and yellow eels.
A smaller number of river fishermen fish for glass eels: 20 fishing boats are counted on the fishing areas of the Loire river. They also fish for yellow eel (52 boats) and silver eel (22 boats), particularly on Grand-Lieu Lake and the Mazerolles plain, but also on the Loire and its tributaries.
In New Aquitania, fishermen exploit diverse ecosystems from the Charente to the Spanish border. There are 185 marine fishermen who fish for glass eels and 184 fishermen who fish for yellow eels, and 10 fishermen without boats who practice a particular type of fishing called “wave fishing” to catch glass eels that are thrown up by the waves breaking on the Landes coast.